southpaw

The way cable and satellite agreements are setup. Cable can't carry out-of-region regional networks. For example: Comcast is a cable company that covers much of the U.S. However, every city that has Comcast has an intergovernmental agreement with the LOCAL Comcast office. In the FCC's eyes, there is no national cable company. It's all local cable companies. While that may be bad for some viewers, it's a very, very good thing for the cities themselves. They receive significantly more funding from the cable companies from those franchise agreements than they would if it was a national cable company. Part of that local agreement is that they only carry in-region channels. Satellite only has to pay cities for using their phone lines, which is significantly cheaper than cable wiring throughout the city. Satellite is considered a national company in the FCC's eyes, just like Sirius/XM is different than local radio stations. Satellite is able to carry all of the channels because it doesn't have to abide by the local cable company rules. The cities don't get as much money but the viewers get more options. Realize TV is really only 60 years old and the sports boom has only happened over the last 15 years. Things are evolving but there are a lot of rules in place that are there for a reason, although they may be outdated. Regardless, the FCC isn't going to change things soon.

Not everyone is at the bar before noon like you Because I work in college sports broadcasting. I can't bring a printed out report with specific numbers but it's pretty easy to infer based on numbers that have been released in the past. Games carried on NBCSN, a channel that is available on a standard package on most TVs throughout the US, only average 68,000 viewers last year. Those numbers were significantly lower for teams in the west regardless of how good of a matchup it would be. It has been shown that only a fraction of people who purchase cable or satellite also get the sports package that allows them to get channels like FCS. There is much more that goes into determining the actual viewers but that's a simple explanation based off one network. Additionally, despite having the entire schedule set for last year FCS did not have advertising during UND hockey games. They aired internal promotions which actually cost the network money to air. If UND (or any college hockey) was a money-maker for FCS they would be able to sell even ridiculously cheap advertising just to recover some of the costs. To them (and they know the actual numbers) it wasn't worth it to advertise.

When television companies are created they must declare either regional or national status. If a company like ROOT is going to focus solely on Colorado/Rocky Mountain sports then it's going to want to designate itself as regional. That makes it more likely it will be on a standard cable package, which it is. If it decides it wants to be national, then it will likely be placed on a sports tier in a digital package, which FCS is on most cable systems.

And that's where I believe people underestimate the benefits of this contract. Had NBCSN gone to the NCHC with Notre Dame I would have fully expected Hockey East or the ECAC to sign the exclusivity agreement with CBSSN. In CBS you have a national network that has shown has willingness and a desire to broadcast college hockey. For Hockey East, the exclusivity clause would have meant 16 games combined throughout the league would not have been able to be aired on FCS (12)or NBCSN (4) this year. That's it. The benefits of having 18 games on CBSSN vs 16 on FCS/NBCSN are definitely worth it. FCS broadcasts often don't hit 10,000 viewers. So to trade 18 CBSSN games for those 4 NBCSN games is a great deal, regardless of any exclusivity clause. Only two schools in all of college hockey would suffer from an exclusive contract like the one with CBSSN. That is UND and Notre Dame. There are no other schools in a similar situation to UND. 57 of 59 schools likely would have voted in favor of this deal. Edit: The Big10 schools couldn't accept a deal like this if they were in the B10 conference because the B10 network is considered a national network and the conference wouldn't allow that. So 51 of 59 schools would be in favor of the contract.

I agee that CBS should be showing NCHC conference games when available. However, committing to broadcast 18 games that are all west of the Mississippi is an investment. The only game on the CBS schedule that I have an issue with is RIT vs Niagara. CBSSN has a history of broadcasting at least one of the Air Force/Army games every year for the last 4-5 years at least. I am ok with them continuing that tradition. However, at least one of the games this weekend should have been either UND/UMD or DU/WMU instead of two non-conference games.

FCS is not considered a regional network. Since cable companies throughout the U.S. can carry FCS, similar to NHL network, CBSSN, and etc it is considered a national network. Don't be confused by the FCS Pacific/Central/Atlantic names. They're just names. ESPN could have gone with ESPN-West Coast instead of ESPN 2 but that wouldn't make it a regional network. Midco can be lumped in with all the Fox Sports regionals, like Root, Fox Sports North, etc. Living in Colorado, I can't get Midco on cable. Just like I can't get Fox Sports North. Those are dedicated regional channels because they're not available nationally on CABLE.

I don't like the NCHC/CBSSN TV deal from a UND fan side of things. I can't watch the games on FCS. I have to stream everything now, just like everyone else. The CBSSN deal sucks for UND, no way around it. However, it is a great deal for the league. Other than the Big 10 network, it is the best TV deal in college hockey. Does the exclusivity clause negatively affect the conference? Absolutely, but it's not so significant that it should have derailed the contract. 7 schools in the league now have more games broadcasted to more people than they did last year. That's a great thing for the league. We won't have more specific numbers until after the season is over however I would not be surprised to see that with the CBSSN deal, all 8 schools in the league had more viewers combined than all 8 of the schools did last year. And that includes UND on FCS.

Because Dish and DirecTV have decided that there are enough people who watch Root that they will carry that channel nationally. At this point, Dish and DirecTV do not feel there are enough viewers to justify carrying Midco. That could change (and hopefully it does) as it would mean Midco has it's own dedicated channel on satellite. Midco is exactly the same as Root in that it is a regional network. The main difference is Root is an established channel while Midco is only a few years old. Also, Root reaches to millions of people just in Denver, not to mention the rest of the Rocky Mountain viewing area.

It's fine to disagree. It's idiotic to assume that the driving force behind a decision made by 7 other schools in a brand new conference was to screw over UND. But please, enlighten me with more about how DU's regional broadcast schedule is smaller this year. I'd love to hear your expertise.

Wow, some UND fans are delusional about how important UND really is in the scheme of things. A new arena, unprecedented TV coverage and some good teams have made fans spoiled over the last 15 years. It's like UND hockey is God and if somebody else doesn't see it, then they are either wrong or trying to screw UND over. How much "smaller" has DU's regional broadcasts been this year? They have 7 games on Root/Altitude this year. THE EXACT SAME NUMBER AS LAST YEAR! Clearly, all of those "lost games" had to do with the NCHC/CBSSN deal. For the rest of the schools that voted for this? They get more games on national TV than they did last year. Why are they regretting the decision? There is no point in responding to your sentence about the other schools trying to screw over UND. That is a truly idiotic statement. Notre Dame's demands were not just TV related. How many UND fans loved the preferential treatment Minnesota got in the league? It would have been significantly worse had the NCHC caved to Notre Dame's demands. CBSSN likely would not have offered a teleivision package without the exclusivity clause. They had several other leagues they could go to and so they had bargaining power over the NCHC. People vastly overestimate the number of people watching Sioux hockey on FCS. There are not millions of people tuning in each weekend to watch UND play. There is a reason UND and Midco were not getting any funding for broadcasting those games on FCS. There's a reason FCS only ran promos and no actual commercials during UND hockey broadcasts. You can't sell advertising to something that isn't going to be watched by a lot of people. Notre Dame and UND would not have received a bulk of that exposure. Notre Dame would have received 90% of the exposure. The vote was never about forcing equality. It was "what is best for my school." For 7 of the 8 schools who weren't on national TV, it was about getting on national tv more. The CBSSN deal does that for those seven schools. That's why they voted yes. How has having 18 games broadcast nationally (more than any other league) squash the league as a whole? Just because UND's games aren't available to the 10,000 people who watched on FCS? Get a clue. UND on FCS does not equal national exposure for the NCHC. League-wide games on CBSSN does. Do you honestly believe this stuff you type? Please take a second and compare the CBS deal (even with UND not on FCS) to any and all AHA and WCHA games aired on TV. You can even combine AHA and the WCHA into one conference to try and boost the numbers a bit. Compare the NCHC national broadcast schedule to that of Hockey East. Outside of Notre Dame, the CBSSN deal wipes the floor with Hockey East's national coverage. The NCHC exists to make sure each school has a vote in the process. Had the NCHC formed in the early 90's and UND was invited to join, would you be cool with UND having a lesser voice because hockey wasn't as popular? I imagine you were one of the people screaming for Minnesota and Wisconsin hockey to have more power in the WCHA because they're bigger schools with more followers than UND. You wouldn't want UND to be considered second fiddle in the WCHA so why do you expect other schools to feel that way in the NCHC?

The bolded part is the only part that I disagree with. With Notre Dame in the NCHC one would naturally assume the NBCSN contract would come with it and bring lots of TV coverage (non-exclusive) to the NCHC. However, NBCSN instead renewed their contract with Hockey East. That contract consists of four non-Notre Dame Hockey East conference games all season. The number of HE games aired on NBCSN over the next TWO YEARS is capped at 12... total. Not 12 a year, 12 total. NBCSN doesn't care about airing college Hockey East games, they care about airing Notre Dame games. And it would have been the same way for the NCHC. People make the NBCSN thing out to be much bigger of a deal than it is. The only benefit of the NBCSN deal is that Hockey East schools can show their games outside of their region.

What? The CBSSN/NCHC deal is not good for Midco. They lose revenue from the games they don't get to do. Their product isn't aired nationally on FCS. UND voted against the contract because of that clause.

All I've been able to find is that it is a multi-year contract. I'll ask around and see if I can find out exactly how many years.

Bartels goes off for 400+, 3 TDs and throws one pick when a receiver deflects it. UND wins 35-27.

I'll start by saying I agree that the exclusivity clause should be a two-way street where CBSSN only does NCHC league games if available. I'm fine with the network doing two Atlantic Hockey games this year because I don't really care about that. However, where do you get the impression that the current admin of the NCHC doesn't care? The league and CBSSN signed the contract under the old administration and obviously the network wanted that exclusivity clause in there. CBSSN isn't going to just rescind that part of the contract because Josh Fenton asks nicely. Perhaps, there is nothing the NCHC can do about that clause now that they've learned some of the negative aspects. You act like if the NCHC says "let's get rid of that exclusivity part" then it's just suddenly gone. It's a freaking contract and while contracts are broken all the time, ones like these are not. People learn a lot from contract one to contract two and I imagine there will be changes if/when the contract is renewed. You have no proof the league likes the exclusivity clause, you have no proof the league hasn't tried to remove that part of the clause and you have no proof that the league doesn't care. But clearly, that won't stop you from making some fun accusations. P.S. The same league that is in the forefront of video and social media for the fans, because of requests by the fans, probably tends to listen to the fans pretty well.

As written by Siouxman in an email this morning: Congrats to the proud parents and grandparents and welcome to the Sioux hockey family!

Fargo please

You've said this several times... where the heck are the Summit schools going to go?

I personally wish UND would play a style that doesn't win games in conference and instead just wins the non-conference games. That will allow us to not worry about their style of play in late march and early april as we would be more focused on golf.

When isn't the word improved a relative term?

NCAA-wise, yes. NCHC-wise, no.

Here's goals #2 and #3 from Sunday:

Similar to the Miami feed it will be up closer to gametime.

Yeah, his arm strength really made him struggle in setting a record Joe's huge arm couldn't match. I get you like Joe (or think he's better or whatever) but Ryan has performed well. His "lack of mobility" didn't affect things a whole lot last weekend. But of course that was because of the new offensive line and not because he got rid of the ball quicker than Joe can.

For the last year of the Old Ralph I was in the front row of the corner for every game. For the first two years of the new Ralph I was front row right next to visitor penalty box. Since I work for Air Force hockey, I see every game from the press box point of view so whenever I'm able to go to UND games I always get seats in the front 3 rows. Love being close to the ice.